A Natural History of Dragons, A memoir by Lady Trent
By Marie Brennan
Marie Brennan was born in 1980, in Dallas Texas. Her birth name was Bryn Neuenschwander, although she has stated a strong preference for her professional name so we'll be using that throughout this review. Marie graduated from Harvard with degrees in anthropology and folklore and pursued a graduate degree at Indiana University in the same subjects. She left the program without finishing her Ph.D. however, to pursue writing full time. Marie (She also states a marked preference for using her first name, so we'll honor that) also states that she has been happy to use her education to provide subject matter for her books. She published her first novel Warrior in 2006. She is also an avid RPG player, known for being a fan of the Legend of the Five Rings setting, and has also written novels for that setting as well as for the tiny d6 game setting. She has taught a number of creative writing classes as well as world-building and public reading classes for groups ranging from age 12 to college-age and older. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband.
She is at this time a member of the Book View Café Author's Cooperative. Which is an Author owned and operated publishing company. Founded in 2008, all members are traditionally published authors and serve as editors, copy editors, and so on as needed (Excellent! And yes, Your traditional communist editor has returned!). While they do focus on ebooks, they also have works that have been physically published. The Book View Cafe sells ebooks directly from their website and I will be attaching a link at the end of the review. That said, our current review topic was traditionally published by Tor Books, which I've already gone into so let's get to the novel.
This is the first book in a fairly long series presented as the memoir of Lady Isabella Trent, who is the preeminent authority on dragons in her world. Dragons were difficult to study due to being large flying carnivores, who were not fond of the company of men. Their bodies also rapidly degrade after death making studying their anatomy incredibly difficult (But... part of being a biologist is killing and dissecting the things you love! {What can I say, Dragons are spiteful that way}). If that wasn't enough, Isabella also faces a great many issues revolving around her sex and class. To put it bluntly, her world is very much like Victorian England, and women, especially noble-born, married women aren't supposed to be interested in science at all (Because let us squander the talents of a huge portion of the population! I swear on Engel’s Beard, that bullshit is insane. {What is it with you people and facial hair anyways?}). They are also certainly not supposed to pursue an education in such matters, even if it's one through private studies and resources. They are also most certainly not supposed to be galloping about in foreign lands, getting into dangerous situations, and being alone with strange men. As far as Isabella is concerned, so much the worse for society because she is going to do exactly that or die trying (Good for her!).
Of course, she doesn't start off there. This book is about her first attempts at learning and study and her first real expedition into Dragon country. It's also a book about her childhood, her attempts to try and make peace with her culture, and her marriage. I should note that Isabella is very lucky in her marriage, as her husband Jacob shares her interest in Dragons but also holds her happiness as more important than the consequences of not restraining her (This guy is a keeper!). Let me unpack that a bit. While women suffer more obviously and frankly in more ways than men in a sexist system that leaves them as the dependent sex, men aren't untouched by suffering in such a system. In this case, Jacob is running a real risk of social and economic damage by supporting his wife so openly. He could be viewed as anything from a weakling to a monster who callously exposes his wife to danger. Given that Jacob is dependent on social ties to maintain his wealth and privilege such damage could have dire consequences (Yeah, can confirm. Being a social pariah is bad in these societies. Hell, we can see shadows of this in our current society. A guy who does nice things for his partner too much or seems overly concerned with their happiness gets called “whipped” and is thus emasculated.).
Without making a point of it or drumming it into our heads, Marie shows how such systems maintain and police themselves by hitting both men and women with heavy penalties for acting outside what's permissible for them. It works all the better that Isabella isn't trying to lead a revolution (a pity), she's just trying to study dragons, for science. If society would just leave her alone and let her get about it, everyone would benefit. Now lucky for Jacob and Isabella they have a strong patron in the Earl Hilford a noted authority on Dragons who makes a point of inviting both of them on the expedition to Vystrana (Which is a stroke of luck indeed, but not historically unprecedented. Victorian scientists were often far ahead of the curve that way historically too. Not, you know, most, but there were enough of them that they could get shit done.).
It's an expedition that may be a doomed one. Not only are they in a country without the permission of the Tsar, but the guy who did invite them is missing. On top of that, there are smugglers they have to cut a deal with, villagers worried that these nosy foreigners are going to stir something up that will get them all killed, and a local nobleman who isn't really thrilled to see them. On top of everything else, something has riled up the dragon population and gotten them attacking humans. While the dragons were attacking people before Isabella and friends showed up, that's not going to stop people from blaming them if things go badly (Especially if the country is backward…). So on top of navigating an unfriendly local environment, trying to conduct a scientific inquiry in the field with only the most basic tools and instruments (there are no trains so everything has to be brought in via donkey.), they also have to solve a mystery and not get eaten while doing so.
Marie follows a very American (although writers from other nations have done it as well) tradition of creating a fantasy world full of cultures that closely echo but are not one-to-one copies of real ones. Fans of Robert Howard's Conan or David Eddings work know exactly what I mean by this. For example, Isabella's home nation of Scirland is basically the United Kingdom. Vsytrana is basically Romania under Russian occupation, where all the nobles are Russian and don't even speak the language of the native peasants. There are some changes, for example, the majority religion is more in line with Judaism than Christianity with a division between Temple-based followers and Rabbinical traditions (Neat! By the way, Happy New Year, fellow Jews.).
There's also an ancient empire that is sort of like the Romans in that they left ruins everywhere but no one can actually read their writing so there's no massive influence on modern languages (So kinda like the Etruscans? {Or the Mycenaeans or the Indus Valley Civilization, etc}). The ruins of one such settlement are a minor plot point for example. This means this world lacks Latin, likely explaining many scientific issues. Because Latin served as a common language for scholars and scientists across Europe in our world. I also assume this means there's no Byzantium equivalent. With the major religion being more akin to Judaism, there is also no large organized church on the lines of the Roman Catholic Church, so Isabella's version of Europe feels less tied together as a single unit. Frankly, those changes are more profound than adding Dragons to your setting, nations seem more isolated in this world and even imperialist ambitions seem muted in comparison to real life. Which isn't a bad thing honestly (It is much harder to sustainably conquer a people without significant cultural integration. Christendom did this in Europe, so there was a lot of movement of people, linguistic admixture, etc. There was a kind of cultural unity created by the Church. Lacking that, you’ll likely get earlier formation of nation-states, etc. An English king inheriting your French estate isn’t such a big deal when they share that common church link and daily life doesn’t change. But in this world, that isn’t likely to go over as well because that common thread isn’t there and the new feudal overlord is viewed as more foreign.)
The world-building is frankly amazing but Marie also does a good job of having us explore the world through Isabella's eyes. This is framed as a written Memoir of an old Isabella looking back at the struggles and accomplishments of her early life. It's also where she's looking back at her many mistakes and the costs of those mistakes. Usually, I don't care for that kind of narrative frame, often it robs the book of suspense because we know if the main character survives to 80 or whatever to write this book, then their survival is basically assured. Additionally, introducing this as a famous person's memoirs tells us that they quite likely triumphed. Marie does find a way around this by reminding us that you can win and still pay heavily for the privilege and not every victory feels worth the price. There is loss and pain in this book, enough to keep the readers from thinking that Isabella is invincible and will be just fine at the end of it. That said, this isn't a dark book even if I found the ending somewhat bittersweet.
As for Isabella herself, she's an interesting character. She is a woman, who is possessed with talent and a deep overriding interest, as well as a fierce determination to develop both of those things. However, she does at least try to make peace with her society as miserable as that makes her at certain points in her life. That said, she is practical and zealously devoted to science and expanding the reach of human knowledge. This makes for an interesting person as our first-hand narrator, with the book being told entirely from her perspective, after all, she is the one writing it. This is not to say we don’t get to know other characters: her husband Jacob, her patron in the sciences the aged but deeply respected Earl Hilford, and her fellow apprentice Tom Wilker, a commoner who fought his way up the ladder to get the Earl's respect and attention. While Jacob and the Earl range from supportive to indulgent, Tom resents Isabella being there, feeling like she got here just because she married Jacob. Isabella in turn resents being judged by someone she feels is less learned and studied than she is. Which creates an interesting dynamic.
Honestly, I really enjoyed this book and I really found myself wanting to look at Marie's other novels. I'm very impressed here and I can't recommend this book enough. I'm giving A Natural History of Dragons, A memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan an unreserved A. This is a great example of character and world-building in a fun and interesting plot. Go ahead and give it a look yourself.
I hope you enjoyed this week's review. The book was not only recommended by one of our ever wise patrons but was voted for by our patrons as well. If you would like a vote over what books or films get reviewed, theme months or other events, Join us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads for as little as a dollar a month! Next week we’ll be looking at Snake Agent by Liz Williams. Hope to see you there. Until then stay safe and as always, Keep Reading!
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